109. Wounded Beasts

None of them had lowered their gazes or shown any other deference to his rank as their King. They were openly challenging him.

He’d suffered from his guilt for weeks. Slaughtering the people who killed his pack members hadn’t been enough; he should have tried to make amends. But their whispers about him and Layla had held him back.

And his guilt was holding him back now.

Though Cain was still on alert, even he recognised a wounded animal and the need to grieve. The woman who demanded he give Layla to them was projecting as much pain as most of them. Zach had used their vulnerabilities to get them on his side, like the asshole he was.

His declaration didn’t scare him as much as the emotions his pack members were projecting. The amount of pain they were in was enough to tip them over into doing anything to make it go away.

“You’ll never be Alpha, Zach. You’re too much of a coward and dick to fit into that role. There’s a Beta and a Gamma, and all the pack warriors who would do the j